So my very wise blogamigo Eddie Griffin suggested that I take TWO mental health days. He’s right of course, I am almost feeling clear and inspired again. I pay close attention when my higher energies, like optimism, dip and lower level energies, like frustration, surge. Sometimes the best way for me to re-balance is to take a break from writing for a day or two, breathe deeply, workout and read.
Big post for tomorrow, but in the meantime I am reading all over the interwebs and ask that you do the …

Is Barack Obama the needed bridge between blacks and Latinos? Maybe.
One of the most “YES!” inducing moments of last Tuesday’s election dissection, was learning that my Latino hermanas y hermanos had come out in a large majority (2 to 1) to support Barack Obama. In 2004, President George Bush garnered 44% of the Latino vote and pundits everywhere declared that “Hispanics” were conservative, and might provide a growing base of support for the Republican party going forward. It was a reasonable hypothesis, I guess. But what no one saw coming …

The pro-Migrant bloggers over at the The Sanctuary website are making national news by trying to do a very difficult thing: keep Obama and McCain honest about their immigration agenda. It seems that in an effort to catch the majority of the ever growing “Latino vote,” Obama and McCain are flip flopping all over themselves, changing what they say depending on what audience they are speaking to.
So in June, the folks at The Sanctuary made a basic request; they asked each candidate to respond to a 38 Question Candidate Survey. …

UPDATE: Absolut says ‘Sorry.’
Here’s the Absolut ad that first appeared in Mexico:

It depicts the border between Mexico and United States prior to the February 2, 1848 signing of The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following Mexico’s loss of the Mexican American War. The terms of that Treaty were changed by the United States and some believe that the USA never legally acquired the Southwest from Mexico.

Just a question. If the best the US government can do to enforce its borders is after the fact deportation which is expensive and wholly ineffective, why doesn’t ICE start in the jails and the prisons? Deport violent criminals and drug dealers (we don’t need more than we’ve homegrown) first and let working people work. Why are there any raids going on at all at businesses that process food? Why are there any raids at all going on in private homes in the middle of the night? How is that …

“Mestizo” was one of the first words I learned when I started studying Spanish in 7th grade at Argyle Junior High School. In this case, it was used to describe Mexicans who were the descendants of African slaves. I don’t remember how it came up, but I know that this was during the time of “Roots” and I bet my progressive, blonde, blue eyed teacher from Spain, Mrs. Malitz, wanted to inject some relevance into the inane dialogues we were required to commit to memory and recite.
Esta Susanna en casa?
Si, …

Contributor Carole McDonnell’s short stories and essays appear online and in print, in speculative fiction, ethnic, and Christian publications. She lives in New York with her husband, two sons, and their pets. Wind Follower, published by Juno Books, is Carole’s first novel. Her voice adds plenty to our discussion, so I welcome Carole and her column Faith in Color to Allaboutrace.com.
For a forty-seven year old reclusive speculative fiction writer, I’m pretty much in the loop. Actually, I’m in a lotta loops. I hear news whether I wish to hear …

Elvira Arellano was arrested outside a downtown Los Angeles church on Sunday afternoon and she has been deported to Mexico. She had been speaking out against separation of families and was on her way to speak at another church when unmarked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cars surrounded her SUV and took her into custody. It went down like this:
As Arellano, her 8-year-old son Saul and others headed in a sport-utility vehicle along Main Street toward another leg of their trip in Northern California, several unmarked cars swarmed the vehicle, …

On Tuesday, June 19th, David Rivas Morales was beaten to death in a parking lot by an unknown number of men. You can read the details here. The alleged assailants are black and the victim is Latino. The local authorities and community groups are bending over backwards and twisting sideways to reinforce the idea that race had nothing to do with this assault. Unfortunately, I think this murder has much to do with race, anger and bigotry. It is time for black and Latino people to have candid dialogue …

I was riding my little pit bike in the desert and got a flat. I was attempting the repair myself but the cheap Chinese tools I had just bought in case of an emergency broke. I decided to toss the bike into the truck and take it into town. I was hoping the guy at the 24 hour truck tire repair and fried chicken joint (not a joke) could give me a hand. When I walked into the shop, this gaunt old man was sitting in the corner pounding …

Contributor Carole McDonnell’s short stories and essays appear online and in print, in speculative fiction, ethnic, and Christian publications. She lives in New York with her husband, two sons, and their pets. Wind Follower, published this month by Juno Books, is Carole’s first novel. This is her post which first appeared in Blog Critics Magazine.

I found myself getting the world’s most awful panic attack a few days ago. I could hardly breathe. It happened as I was walking down the streets of my hometown. I call Peekskill, New York my hometown …

On Wednesday’s O’Reilly Factor, racism emerged from its gauzy hiding place at the edge of the immigration reform debate. Have a look at this excerpt from Bill O’ Reilly’s interview with Senator John McCain.
O’REILLY: Do you think there’s a racism thing involved in this? Linda Chaves, one of our contributors who you know very well…
MCCAIN: Yes.
O’REILLY: …wrote a column on townhall.com and said, you know, there’s a number of Americans who just don’t like Latinos. And that’s what the opposition is all about there. Do you believe that?
MCCAIN: I do know this, that there’s …

Contributor Andrew Padula has been in situations throughout his life where he has been compelled to deal with racial issues from unusual perspectives. I believe his point of view adds a lot to our discussion, so I welcome Andrew and his column The Topsoil to Allaboutrace.com. As Andrew says, “You gotta turn the topsoil to plant a crop!”
On the rare occasions when full time musicians are not playing, or sitting home flat broke, most of us like diversions that are far and away from nightclub life.  I have always been a …

The New York Times confirms something I have observed anecdotally. In today’s article ‘New Demographic Racial Gap Emerges,’ reporter Sam Roberts cites new Census data and asserts:
With the number of nonwhite Americans above 100 million for the first time, demographers are identifying an emerging racial generation gap. That development may portend a nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas and priorities.
“The new demographic divide has broader implications for social programs and education spending for …

I was not aware of the T. Don Hutto Family Residential Facility until nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez, creator of The Unapologetic Mexican site, posted this in early March. The entire post is stimulating and I encourage you to read it. But, here is the line that grabbed my attention:
HUTTO PRISON recycles devious yet tired tactics. Smile with the goodface. Put a satin tie around the crooked neck. Dress up for the Press, hiding away that which cannot withstand judgment.
theunapologeticmexican.org
This statement now seems prescient because today’s New York Times claims that Jorge …